Crysis

E3 2007 Preview

The 800-pound gorilla in this year’s PC gaming realm has to be Crysis, the latest from Crytek, the developers of Far Cry (jeez, does everything they do need the word “cry” in it?). Crysis has been a showboat title for Microsoft’s DirectX 10 platform since it was debuted last year, offering amazing graphics and tons of special effects not possible on DX9. Now a year has gone by, and PC gamers are still clamoring to get their hands on what could likely be the best looking PC game ever. However, looks may be one thing, but how does it play? GameZone recently got some hands on time with the title at E3, and the game feels like a very solid shooter with some truly amazing graphics.

In Crysis, you are a Delta Force guy sent to find a team of archeologists who when missing while on expedition on an island. It turns out that they discovered some alien artifacts of a very serious nature. So serious in fact, that the North Korean government is also on the island looking for them, requiring you to take them out on your search as well. However, things quickly grow hairy, as the aliens return to Earth and begin to lay siege, requiring the US and North Korea to band together to fight off this common enemy.

The E3 demo of Crysis took place on the island, and at first glance seemed a lot like Far Cry. The AI was extremely solid, as the enemy soldiers would get into formations and realistically use cover in order to take you on. They could also use any number of vehicles, from boats to jeeps and so on. However, the main difference comes from your character. You can perform several interesting abilities, like go invisible (a move that renders your character almost completely invisible aside from a subtle rainbow effect that looks like gasoline mixed with water), or grab enemies by the neck and chuck them into objects. You can also manipulate the environment in other ways, but picking up barrels and tossing them and so on.

The E3 demo featured some pretty amazing graphical effects. The motion blur effect was put to great use in the game, as was vegetation specific damage. Shooting an assault rifle into a densely forested area would cause trees and branches to topple over, with was an amazing effect to see. The water effects were also great looking, and rippled and splashed along the shoreline realistically.

Crysis is turning out to be worth the hype, and could be the one title to showcase the full power of DX10 gaming like no other.

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